In figures filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission, the Yes on 1000 committee has raised $1,116,960 plus $21,562 worth of in-kind help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.

The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide has reported raising $87,352, with $2,286 in in-kind help from its chairman Chris Carlson.

The largest contributions to Yes on 1000 have come from out-of-state, led by two big donations totaling $300,000 from the Oregon Death With Dignity PAC. Other committees making major donations include the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization, and the the Final Exit Networks of Georgia and Illinois.

Gardner, a wealthy Weyerhaeuser heir, is the biggest individual donor with $120,000
in contributions.

The largest donation to the Coalition Against Assisted suicide has been Georganna Cliff of Spokane, who has given $15,000.

The Yes on 1000 campaign has also spent $1.026 million, largely to get on the ballot.

The “death with dignity” campaign has proved a font of life for the Northwest’s liberal political consultants.

PCI Consultants Inc. has been paid $193,077 for work in signature gathering. Active Roots Consulting, with a specialist in volunteer signature drives, has been compensated to the tune of $67,500.

M & R Strategic Services, which advertises itself as specializing in the “highly tailored campaign strategy,” has taken $75,000 from the assisted suicide campaign.

Two of the state’s best-known Democratic consultants have been deeply involved in the campaign from its inception.

A longtime strategist for ex-Gov. Gary Locke and Rep. Jim McDermott, Blair Butterworth has been paid $27,000. Christian Sinderman, who has worked for Sen. Maria Cantwell and a bevy of state office and legislative hopefuls, has collected $21,663.

The Yes on 1000 campaign has even paid back $2,500 to Oregon Death With Dignity in consulting fees.

Sinderman and Butterworth have shown a certain sensitivity about involvement with the assisted suicide campaign.

After news of his involvement became public earlier this year, Sinderman delivered an e-mail account of the death of his grandfather.

“The final visit I had with him, he told me he wished he could die on his own terms, with me and my kids there, instead of afraid and alone,” he wrote. “This campaign is my opportunity to honor that wish, if not for him than for others.”

“While there is rarely honor among thieves, in this case there is at least a personal connection to the issue I am flacking this year,” he added.

Butterworth described the suicide of his 89-year-old grandmother, who threw herself off her 8th story balcony in Bath, England, because “she decided she wanted to leave the world on her own terms.”

And Butterworth made an assumption about the religious beliefs of the columnist — myself – who had posed arguments critical of the initiative.

“I respect your faith, but in terms of public policies that reach belong it, I’d feel better if you kept it to yourself,” he wrote.

What a weird thing to say to an Episcopalian. It’s the sort of remark that leaves a bad odor, and makes one wonder if religion-bashing will become a favored put-down of this ballot campaign.